Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
Personal Statement Philosophy of Teaching I have taught in early childhood, elementary, middle school, and college classrooms, and conducted choirs of singers ranging in age from second grade to my oldest church choir member (who celebrated her 90th birthday in a choral rehearsal). My philosophy has evolved to include a number of components: Music touches the soul. Musical interactions are fundamentally different from any other way of being with other people. Teaching music is special because of the bonds that active musicking forms among and between teachers and students. I am constantly reminded that teaching, and especially teaching music, is a relationship, and one that must be based on personal authenticity and mutual respect. When I began my career as an elementary music teacher, I feared talking about emotions in music, or about joy in the classroom. I have come to believe that these are crucial elements in music teaching and learning. Further, I believe that music is present in every person, and therefore every person can learn and grow musically and through music. “The medium is the message.” My behavior is the message my students are most likely to retain. I consistently endeavor to model excellence in scholarship, professionalism, and musicianship, as well as an inquiring stance and reflective practice as a teacher. I strive to communicate my high standards for students honestly, and to give accurate, fair, and empathetic feedback on students’ successes and failures. A teacher is a master learner. The longer I am in this profession, the less I seem to know. Because of this, I want to help students understand concepts and contexts in music teaching and learning to the degree that they can enter the classroom as novices with the skills not only to ask questions that will improve their practice, but also to seek information and assistance. By modeling and encouraging an inquiring stance, I hope that I can help students find the questions that fascinate them, which will help them become master teachers. Teaching music is an awesome responsibility. Because our music--the music we choose for listening, the music we produce with our voices or instruments, the music we portray through movement of our bodies--is so personal to us, a music teacher wields incredible power. When we ask students to play, to sing, to dance, we are asking them to share pieces of their soul. The ways that I choose to help students grow as musicians [or teachers] could either reaffirm their humanity, or could reject and shame them. In recognition of my power and of the humanity of each person I am privileged to teach, I must honor the contributions of each student with honest assessments of their progress and diligent attention to ways I can help each individual grow as a human and a musician. My course evaluations and syllabi reflect my high standards, my passion for teaching, and my commitment to helping students learn and grow.
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
In my four years as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan-Flint, I have worked to distinguish myself as worthy of the position. In teaching, research and service, I have worked to complement and augment the work of my Department and the University, and to establish a career trajectory that is both ambitious and sustainable. Teaching In my first two years, I taught seven separate courses. I adapted two based on courses I had previously taught at Michigan State, and significantly redeveloped the other five, which were new to me. During that time, I participated in the course catalyst program, working on MUS 381/EDE 346, Teaching General Music, Grades k-8 in 2011-12 and MUS 382/EDS 346, Methods for Teaching Secondary Performance Ensembles in 2012-13. Through this experience, I learned a great deal about teaching at the college level, both from the workshops and also from the process of applying for the program, writing the materials, and writing the reflection on participation. I used Catalyst funds to take students to a conference (2013) and to buy materials for modeling early childhood music instruction (2012). In the past two years, I have designed and taught three additional classes that were new to me. MUS 380 Principles of Music Education (Winter 2014), is a new requirement in our program for music education majors. Then, I was invited to teach in Michigan State University’s summer master’s program, where I taught MUS 860, History and Philosophy of Music Education, and MUS 891 Exceptional Learners in Music. I had hoped to teach another new course at UM-Flint in Fall 2014, MUS 485/585 Music and the Young Child, but it did not have adequate enrollment. I continue to challenge myself to integrate active musicianship into my teaching, and to use technology effectively. It is easy in my education coursework to fall to lecturing, and much
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
more effective when I use active learning strategies such as modeling or peer teaching. I have used skype to give guest lectures and to observe classrooms remotely with my students. I have also designed and taught an online course, and to my surprise, enjoyed it tremendously. I am working to integrate meaningful, authentic assessments of student progress. I have also committed to integrating fieldwork in the community so that every class I teach carries the “CE” endorsement. My course evaluations are positive, and indicate that, while students view my courses as work intensive, they also see the work as useful and interesting. Students report that I am passionate about my teaching, that my courses are planned well (although not easy), and that I am easy to get in touch with and willing to help. I have listened to student feedback, and will be considering ways that I can keep learning hands-on, hold students accountable, and integrate more in-class assessment. Scholarship My scholarship focuses on music teaching and learning in pk-12 school settings, music teacher education, music and exceptional populations, and social justice in education. Next month, I will present my study “Music Teacher Educator Perspectives on Social Justice” at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Co-author Jacki Kelly-McHale and I plan to submit this paper to Music Education’s highest-impact journal, Journal of Research in Music Education. With my colleague Varvara Pasiali, I recently presented “Intersections Between Music Education and Music Therapy: Education Reform, Arts Education, Exceptionality, and Policy at the Local Level” at Desert Skies Symposium on Music Teacher Education in Tucson, Arizona. This paper is in the revise/resubmit stage of consideration for publication in Arts Education Policy Review (AEPR). AEPR is a peer-
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
reviewed, eminent journal with a broad scope, encompassing instruction across the arts and appealing to an audience of researchers, practitioners, and administrators. My article Access to Music Education with Regard to Race in Two Urban Areas was published in AEPR in 2014. My paper “Music Instruction for Elementary Students with Moderate to Severe Cognitive Impairments: A Case Study” has been accepted for publication in Research Studies in Music Education (RSME). RSME is a peer-reviewed international journal targeted to music education researchers. In 2014, my first book chapter, “Identity and Transformation: Reclaiming an Inner Musician,” appeared in the edited book Music Education: Navigating the Future, published by Routledge. In January 2013, my paper “Inclusion of People with Special Needs in Choral Settings: A Review of Applicable Research and Professional Literature” appeared in the peerreviewed journal Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. Update is a national journal with an audience of researchers and practicing music educators. I also worked with three Flint-Area music teachers to write an article for our peer-reviewed state journal, Michigan Music Educator. During my time here at UM-Flint, I have presented my research at state, national, and international conferences in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and Michigan. Research-based presentations and workshops have become an increasingly important part of my scholarly activity, particularly for my research that pertains to inclusion of students with exceptionalities in music settings. This is because many teachers need assistance in applying research to their setting, and as an author of the research and a former music teacher, I am well positioned to provide professional development. I have also begun to involve our students and alumni in my research. I have utilized UROP funding for research assistants, and one of these students presented at the 2013 Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research conference. My
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
presentation at the Michigan Music Conference was in collaboration with Keith Corbett, a recent alumnus of our Bachelor in Music Education program. Service I have worked to be of service to the music education profession, the university, the Flint community, and my department. In 2014, I became President-Elect of the Michigan Music Education Association, which is our state affiliate organization of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). I will spend six years representing Michigan in NAfME’s North Central Division and at national-level meetings. In this role, I will also meet state and federal lawmakers, provide professional development, and guide the continued development of a strong organization for music educators in our state and the nation. As a part of my duties, I currently serve on the planning committee for our annual conference, the Michigan Music Conference, which attracts nearly 9,000 people each January. When I am president, I will move to the Executive Board for this event. At a national level, I am co-facilitator of the Society for Music Teacher Education’s Area for Strategic Planning and Action on Cultural Diversity and Social Justice. In this role, I lead work meetings at the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference and at the Symposium on Music Teacher Education in alternating years. We have also begun a webinar series, in which eminent researchers present and facilitate discussion on topics related to cultural diversity and social justice in music education, music teacher education, and music education research. I also serve as an editorial board member for New Directions: A Journal of Scholarship, Creativity, and Leadership in Music Education. At the university level, I have a sustained commitment to work of the Education Unit. In my first year, I helped prepare the Unit for initial accreditation by NCATE, serving on the
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
assessment committee and participating in the initial site visit. Through that work, I became a part of the writing team that redesigned the secondary and k-12 education programs. Since then, I have worked on all three phases of the redesign implementation, chairing the phase three secondary redesign implementation team. I currently serve as the interim Coordinator of Secondary Education Programs. In this role, I serve on the Education Council, form part of the leadership team in the new Center for Educator Preparation, and I am a part of the field experiences committee. I also meet biweekly with the teacher certification program advisors. The redesigned programs start in Fall 2015. My service in the Flint community is somewhat interwoven with my service to the Department of Music. In 2012, I formed Flint Area Music Educators (FAME), a professional development group for area elementary music teachers. Each year since then, this organization has offered 4-5 three-hour professional development workshops for area music teachers, which are free for UM-Flint music education students. I have reactivated our collegiate chapter of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), which I advise. This organization provides professional development and leadership opportunities for our students. NAfME Collegiate also engages in service projects and outreach in the Flint community. Last year, they were recognized as a National Chapter of Excellence for their service teaching music at Whaley Center for Children and in Durant Tuuri-Mott Elementary’s after-school program. This year, NAfME Collegiate is partnering with our Opera Outreach to serve as teaching artists in schools where the opera is performed. I also enjoy other facets of departmental service, because evaluating recitals, auditions, juries, and piano examinations allows me to know my students as performers as well as educators.
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement
Goals for Continuous Improvement. Teaching: In my teaching, I plan to continue revisiting my courses so that they stay current, and to continue to evaluate my methods so that they remain engaging and authentic. All of my courses carry the Community Engagement course indicator, and I will be working to ensure that these experiences are mutually beneficial for students and the community partners. Scholarship: I plan to move forward with publication of my current project, Music Teacher Educator Perspectives on Social Justice. This survey also resulted in rich qualitative data, which I plan to analyze and propose for presentation at the Symposium on Music Teacher Education. I have been nominated for the Lucinda Hinsdale Women Junior Faculty Award, and hope to use the time and funding this award provides to pursue additional research on social justice in music education—but this time in Flint. In a previous project, Kristen Allegood and I designed a method of rating the level of access students had to music programs as enriching, adequate, or minimal. We used this system to evaluate individual schools in the Detroit, MI area and the Washington, DC area. Our study’s findings indicated that students who attended schools with a primarily non-White population were less likely to have music instruction, regardless of SES. I would like to replicate this study, using all the schools in Genesee County [perhaps partnering with a collaborator who would look at all Chicago Public Schools]. This research project would continue my line of research regarding equity in access to music instruction, and would also allow me to know more about what is going on in our county so I can better meet the needs of my students and the community. As we move to a place-based model for instruction in our secondary programs, I am curious to know what that could look like in music instruction, and so as a follow up study, I’d like to examine outlier schools, that have strong music programs despite
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Karen Salvador 4-Year Review Notebook Personal Statement Â
high risk factors. Are these programs more rooted in place? More beloved by the community? More culturally responsive? How can these examples be applied to improve instruction, to strengthen programs, and to increase equitable access? Service: My goals with regard to service are to nurture and strengthen my current projects, partnerships, relationships and roles. Adding more roles or responsibilities is not sustainable, and therefore I plan to continue my efforts to provide excellent leadership and service for Collegiate NAfME, for FAME, for the Michigan Music Education Association, and for the Education Unit. In doing so, I am always looking to find ways to build and sustain connections with people and institutions here in Flint.
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